You Are Morally Bankrupt, Presidency Replies Lamido

The Presidency on Sunday described a former Jigawa State governor, Alhaji Sule Lamido, as intellectually and morally bankrupt for daring to criticise President Muhammadu Buhari’s ongoing anti-corruption war in recent media interviews.

Malam Garba Shehu, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, made this known in a statement issued in Abuja on Sunday.

Shehu said the attacks on the President by the Peoples Democratic Party’s presidential aspirant “is a reflection of the intellectual and moral bankruptcy of the opposition in the country.”

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He, however, described the attacks by Lamido “as” a reflection of the intellectual and moral bankruptcy of the opposition in the country.

“It is only in Nigeria that a leader will divert money belonging to the public into his children’s account then turns round to start pontificating on public morals, in the process subjecting the nation’s honest leadership to daily attacks based on falsehood.

“It is even worse that such a person, facing criminal prosecution will start going round saying he wants to be president. Is this not one of the reasons why other countries are laughing at Nigeria?

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“This is hooliganism. It is not opposition politics,’’ Shehu noted.

Appealing to opposition politicians to give Buhari the support he needs to rebuild national institutions such as the EFCC, Shehu challenged Lamido to convince Nigerians that his trenchant attacks against the government and the judiciary were not a smokescreen to becloud the atmosphere of his criminal prosecution.

“If President Buhari’s war against corruption, as he said, is a mockery, what does one say of former governor Lamido’s sworn efforts to sabotage the country’s efforts to rid itself of the cancer of corruption?

“If accountability of public officials is the very essence of a mature democracy, it is, indeed, ironic that a politician seeking the leadership of the country is making a mockery of public institutions and the leaders seeking to entrench them.

“Nigeria settled for President Buhari as the watchman of their common wealth. The citizens are happy with that and the whole world is applauding.

“African Union just named him as the champion of the war against corruption. Opposition politicians like ex-governor Lamido need to come to terms with the fact that their act needs updating,” the presidential spokesman added.